


Familiarity

by JulyStorms



Series: Petruo Week: December 2014 [7]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, Gen, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-21
Packaged: 2018-03-02 17:43:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2820740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JulyStorms/pseuds/JulyStorms
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He just stares at Eren. “Ah, Christ. Petra, you hired a kid?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Familiarity

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Petruo Week Day #7: “Future.”
> 
> Not proofread at all. Please let me know if you find errors, and I’ll fix them right away.

This is fear.

Gunther and Eld have fallen behind (they’re dead, Eren tries not to remind himself), but Auruo and Petra don’t—

There is hesitation, just a spark of it, just a moment, a split second of time that later he realizes speaks volumes for their professionalism and their dedication to their work and each other. A lesser man (less prepared, less aware, less trained for this life) might have felt the need to turn around, to fight, to try to save whatever is left to save.

But they press on. They press on and run. Connie would call it a strategic retreat, he thinks later.

Eren tries to look ahead of him, not behind, but he looks back at Auruo’s shout, looks back and sees the fear in Petra’s eyes—it’s not the kind of fear Eld had joked about earlier: the pants-pissing kind. This is different. This fear is consuming, entrenched in something almost like acceptance a moment before Petra is nothing more than a smear of tangled hair and flesh and blood against a tree.

Somewhere in the back of Eren’s mind, he knows.

He knows that Auruo won’t keep running.

He screams anyway, screams because he knows about death already: he’d seen it in Trost and he _knows_ …but titans eat people. Titans snatch people up and eat them, not this, not—

_“Are you all right, Eren?” Petra asks over breakfast. “Are you sleeping okay?”_

Auruo acts while Eren remains frozen.

Later, Eren wonders if he could have prevented Auruo’s death by transforming in that instant. He wonders, too, if he should have transformed sooner, transformed before Petra died—transformed the moment they really started running, because even the Survey Corps’ elite team knew that the female titan was not something they could handle.

But Eren doesn’t act. It’s almost like he can’t.

In retrospect, Eren will think about the way Auruo flew at that titan; his form had been impeccable, and had that titan been a regular titan—an abnormal one, even—Auruo would have landed his 40th solo kill.

But the ring and clang of Auruo’s steel blades breaking force Eren’s eyes to Auruo’s form—and moments later, there is a sickening _crunch-snap_ as Annie ends him.

_“Look, brat,” Auruo says, shoving a mug through the bars of Eren’s temporary cell in the dungeon of the old castle. “I was already up—thought I’d bring you somethin’ since it fuckin’ sucks to have to sleep down here.”_

* * *

 

It’s his first job out of college.

“Can’t believe you get to work with a master programmer,” Connie says with a grin.

“Technically he’s not a _master_ ,” Eren replies, but matches his friend’s grin.

“He’s well on his way, though, and that’s all that counts.” Connie slaps him on the back, shoves him toward the front doors of the building. “Get in there and make it count, man.”

Eren gives a nervous laugh, but shrugs. “I’ll do my best!”

“They already hired you—what’s the worst that could happen, anyway?”

When he walks inside, the eyes of the receptionist lift up to meet his. “Eren!” she says, and beams. He met Petra on his last visit, and one of the other programmers who worked there, Gunther, said that Petra practically ran the entire business on her own.

It’s easy to believe, anyway; the large L-shaped desk around her is covered with neatly labeled and stacked forms and folders. “Hi, Petra,” he says.

“Baby’s first day of work,” a voice jokes from one of the office doorways. It’s a blond man that Eren hasn’t met, yet.

“Shut up, Eld,” Petra almost snaps at him. “He’s going to do awesome. Right, Eren?”

“First day…” Eld sighs into the cup of coffee in front of him. “Jeez, Petra, this reminds me of _your_ first day of work.” He talks right through the look of embarrassment quickly making its way over her face: “You were so nervous that you nearly pissed yourself—“

“And that’s enough of that story!” Petra interrupts, and stands up.

Eren doesn’t tell her that the story makes him feel a _little_ better. He has his degree and he worked hard for it, but he’s still a little nervous about the whole _job_ thing.

“So, uh…where do you want me?” he finally asks.

Petra pats him on the back gently, as if to reassure him, and leads him toward the back of the building, past the coffee/snack area, and into an office at the far end.

“Auruo,” Petra says, not even knocking on the office door. She just pushes it open and pulls Eren inside with her.

The man at the desk glances up, the end of a ballpoint Bic pen caught between his teeth that has certainly seen better days. “What,” he says.

“Your new guy!” she says, presenting Eren to him with some level of dramatic flair.

He just stares at Eren. “Ah, _Christ_. Petra, you hired a _kid_?”

Petra’s eyebrows slant down immediately in annoyance. “He’s an adult!” she argues. “And he’s smart!”

“Wow, bet he graduated college and everything.” Auruo’s tone could not possibly be more sarcastic.

Petra’s hands ball into fists. “Argh—you’re impossible, I _swear_ —“

But Auruo starts grinning like a dope and Eren is nothing but confused, even when he pulls the pen out of his mouth and says, “Jeez, nag, calm the hell down. I was just—you’re getting’ all worked up over nothin’.”

“I’m not—I haven’t even _nagged_ you!”

“But it’s comin’,” he says, and looks at Eren. “Trust me, it’s coming.”

“It is _not_ coming,” is her response. “I’ve got to get back to my desk—I’ve got about a thousand things to do—“

Auruo holds up a folder: “A thousand and one,” he says.

She snatches it from him, but it just makes his smile look dopier. “Make sure you show ‘em how smart you are, Eren. I’m counting on you!”

“Yes ma’am,” he says, and gives her a smile.

She beams at him like he’s just the best person she’s ever met and leaves the room with the folder tucked under her arm.

Auruo sighs, extends a hand. “I’m Auruo. Call me Auruo. If you call me _old man_ you’ll be out of a job faster’n you can blink. Got it?”

“Yes sir. I-I mean, _Auruo_.”

“Good. Now that you’ve already met my naggy wife—“

“ _Wife_?”

“The fuckin’ naggiest,” Auruo says, but looks pleased with this fact. “Now I got a room all set up for you… It’s basically a closet, but if you don’t suck at programming then you’ll be able to move up or somethin’.” He shoved his coffee mug at Eren. “You’re also the coffee guy. Congrats on the new job, kid.”

Eren isn’t sure what to say. He takes the mug, a confused, “Uh, thanks?” falling from his lips.


End file.
